Polar Bear Plunge

At the school auction there were two 2nd grade parties you could buy.

I asked the boys if they wanted me to buy them the Nerf gun party or the polar bear plunge.

 

They wanted the polar bear party.

I'm not sure if it was because the Nerf party was boys only and this one was co-ed, or they thought jumping in freezing water sounded fun...or a little of both.

 

So while we were off watching the Texans "play", Kyle and Reed were having way more fun.

 

They even got a "I took the plunge" T-shirt, but best of all, there were s'mores.

 

 

Kyle's the one trying to do bunny ears on his friends, Reed's the 2nd on the left laughing.

(And look, the one next to Reed just pushed a kid in!)

 

Reed looking at the camera, now Kyle's laughing.

(And the kid that got pushed in is back in the picture.)

 

That's Reed in the middle of the hot tub. 

(These boys need to up their game...not a girl around!)

I Thought I was Good Luck

Every Texans game I've been to this year they've won.

I really was starting to think it was good luck for me to be there and watch my boyfriend, JJ Watt, play.

 

So we had high hopes going into Saturday's game.

 

Here we are with big smiles on the way

 

 

Big smiles tailgating (even though it was super windy)

 

and big smiles before the game.

 

And then the game started, and there were no more big smiles again.

 

There was a glimmer of hope when Alfred Blue made the only good play of the game, as documented here by JR and his friend, Christian.  But other than this video...I'm not sure there were any more cheers from anybody.

 

Success

Kyle and Reed's birthday was a success.

 

Their friend, Cash, has the same birthday so we had a mini party at his house after school with their very best friends.  (I didn't pay the $500 to have their birthday put on the board.)

 

Next door neighbors ran over to join the party when they saw there was cake!

 

Chloe was happy to be there too.

Kyle and his bestie, Caden.

 

 

They got new bikes for their birthday, and as soon as we got home Kyle ran and got Mary to go riding with him.  (Reed had basketball practice.)

But don't worry, he's been able to get plenty of riding in.

They're Old!

These little people are 8 today!

 

Which I think actually makes them medium sized people.

They started celebrating yesterday since Maw Maw and Paw Paw came to town to take them to dinner and do presents.

They might be 8, but they still want me to me carry them, sit in my lap, and most importantly...give me hugs and kisses when they see me at school. 

The days are limited on all those so I take what I can get!

Our New Baby!

After grieving over Hunter since September, we finally felt we were ready for a new dog.

All of the kids asked for a dog for Christmas, so we knew it was time.

 

 

I wasn't prepared for how hard the getting a new dog process was! When we got Hunter I remember looking in the Greensheet for bichons, and going over to a lady's house to pick him out from the litter the same day I found the ad.

 

 

We thought we wanted a mini golden doodle because we had such a great experience keeping Zoe (who was a golden doodle but standard size) in Denver.  I quickly learned that the wait time for a mini golden doodle was about 6 months...if they would even let you on the list.

 

 

After many exhaustive searches of all different types of breeds, I was finally just looking for a small, nonshedding, female, that wasn't a full bichon (because Jason said it would be too hard to have a dog that looked just like Hunter).

 

 

Finally, New Year's day night I found an ad (in the Greensheet again) for shichon puppies (A shih tzu and a bichon).  The pictures even showed that they weren't all white, so they wouldn't be exactly like Hunter, but being part bichon we knew they would be sweet dogs.

 

 

We finally got a hold of the lady the next day, and she had 1 little girl left. 

And here she is (on the car ride home)!

We named her Chloe...after a family debate that included secret voting.

2 1/2 pound puppies like to sleep.

First awake portrait at 6 weeks old!

2 Years Later

2 long years after Kyle lost his front teeth, 1 of Reed's has finally come out.

 

His little front teeth were/are literally nubs, so it took forever to get this one pulled because there was nothing to hold on to.

 

I'm convinced he's the oldest kid ever to still have their front teeth!

(Also, as you can see, hair brushing has been somewhat optional this vacation.)

Happy 2016

Happy New Year from The Ingersolls and a pile full of balloon animals.

 

 

Guess who got a "how to make balloon animals" kit from Santa?

 

He can make:

 

A giraffe

 

 

 a dog

 

a dog with a really long nose

 

 

and a sword

 

He's definitely ready to hit the 2016 birthday party circuit.